Ban on civilian traffic on highway
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 4: State Government’s decision that there shall be no movement of civilian traffic on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway for two days every week to facilitate movement of forces, evoked sharp reactions from leaders of various political parties.
“Prohibiting traffic movement on Jammu Srinagar National Highway from Baramulla for two days in a week was a decision taken in haste that will add more problems besides creating confusion among the people. The prohibition order must be revoked in the larger interests of people,” said Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president GA Mir and sought immediate revocation of the order.
He said prohibiting civilian movement on Highway twice in a week will create a chaotic situation for the civilians and described the prohibition order as surprising and taken without reviewing the problems which will confront the people due to the ban on civilian traffic on highway. Mir asked the Government not to create confusion under the garb of upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the State, as the elections have and will continue to happen in the State.
Reacting to the order, JKPCC vice president and former MLC G N Monga in a statement issued to press said the traffic ban will add to the miseries of common people, who are already suffering immensely due to the prevailing situation in the State.
He said the Government must find an alternative to ensure the safety of security forces convoys. “We understand the security concern but that doesn’t mean that people will be left to suffer. There must be other methods which can ensure the safety of security convoys, but it should not be done at the cost of lot of inconvenience to common people,” Monga said.
Appealing Government of India and Governor administration to immediately revoke this order and find out some other alternative, the Congress leader questioned, “How will patients reach to hospitals during these two days of ban? How will employees reach to their offices and how will students attend schools and colleges?”
“The decision of the Government that there will be no movement of civilian traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu highway for two days every week to facilitate movement of forces, must be a security issue, but why should a common man be put to avoidable hardships for whom all this security is meant? What about the patients, students, employees, businessmen, and others who will suffer hugely due to this ban,” CPI (M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said.
Tarigami said do authorities want to say if a patient is serious, instead of taking him to hospital, he must be first brought to the district magistrate’s office for getting a pass to travel on the highway? What will be the fate of those patients, who have to be brought from the other districts of the Valley and need immediate treatment in hospitals in Srinagar? What kind of logic is this? A patient can’t wait till a pass is issued, as in some cases it can prove disastrous and life threatening.
“There must be clarity on these issues and Government must find and offer a credible option to it before imposing the ban. The convoy movement timing must be devised in a way so as there is no inconvenience to general public. There is a need to fine-tune the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the movement of security forces convoys so as there is no clash with the movement of civilian traffic,” the CPI (M) leader added.
Former Revenue Minister and Chairman PDF, Hakeem Yaseen also termed the order as arbitrary and anti-people. In a statement, Yaseen said that prohibiting movement of civilian traffic on National Highway on security grounds shows that tall claims of Government about improvement in the ground situation in Kashmir were totally baseless. He said such an anti people step was not seen even in 1990 when the security situation was out of control of the Government machinery and security forces.
Hakeem Yaseen has said that confining people for two days indoors without any reason was an unwise and foolish step which shows short-sightedness of the concerned officers at the helm of affairs. Forcefully demanding revocation of the ban order on traffic movement on Jammu-Srinagar NH, Yaseen said this ban has created suspicion among the people that the Governor administration and security forces are deliberately making common people victim of their own failures.
President, J&K Peoples Movement, Shah Faesal challenged the Government to immediately revoke the ban on civilian traffic on Baramula-Banihal National Highway or face civil disobedience. He was addressing a party workers’ meeting at Hanjura Chrar.
He said that the attempts to terrorize Kashmiris will have to be fought back tooth and nail and no one shall be allowed to deny the right of movement to seven million people. Shah Faesal regretted that illogical policies were being made to marginalize Kashmiris and push them further to the wall. He called for alternative arrangements for convoy movement so that ordinary people are not put to inconvenience.
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